Sterling looks ahead to an AI future

STERLING HEIGHTS — Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor presented a vision of a more technological future while sharing plans for “linking today and tomorrow together” during his Sept. 22 State of the City Address.

The morning address, held at the Sterling Heights Community Center, started with a pretaped comedy skit where the mayor asks the large language model ChatGPT for help making a speech. After the video finished, Taylor talked about how he believes artificial intelligence and other technology will shape Sterling Heights’ future.

“Just to be clear, this speech was not written by a computer program. But we are living in times where artificial intelligence like ChatGPT will have a bigger and bigger impact on our lives,” Taylor said. “Technologies like artificial intelligence, they are accelerating the pace of innovation in cities like Sterling Heights, and we must be able to harness those innovations to continue providing the best possible service to our residents and businesses.”

During his address, Taylor gave multiple examples of how AI is changing city services and businesses. For instance, he discussed how AI will shape the city’s garbage pickup in the future, when Priority Waste takes over the responsibility in 2024.

“Priority’s trucks come equipped with multiple cameras and computers with artificial intelligence software that alerts the drivers when a house is inadvertently skipped,” Taylor said. “Now if Priority Waste can use artificial intelligence to provide a better way to pick up trash, just imagine all the other ways in which that technology can be developed to provide better city services.”

Taylor also mentioned ways that some businesses are using AI. He said Jet’s Pizza, based in Sterling Heights, now uses “a pretty innovative and intuitive artificial intelligence platform” when customers order a meal via text or phone bot.

And after Taylor congratulated two Sterling Heights businesses who earned 2023 Sterling Edge Awards — Dream Big Award winner Gloss Nail Atelier and Business of the Year Coffee First Cafe & Bake Shoppe — he said even service- and experience-focused businesses like these might someday face potential threats from AI.

“You know, in San Francisco, there’s a startup called Clockwork that has robots using AI programs to give manicures that apparently take a fraction of the time and may be a fraction of the cost. But is that a better service?” Taylor said. “In Brooklyn, there’s a coffee shop called Botbar. AI-powered robots take your order, make the coffee and serve it to the customers. Now is that progress?

“Honestly, I don’t know. …You can decide, but it is happening. It is happening, and we have to be ready and prepared for it.”

Taylor said, as a city, Sterling Heights will innovate and try to use AI to serve the public more efficiently — while also being cautious to neither lose its “human touch and personal connection,” nor its “people-first approach.”

Taylor also used his address to highlight other technological advances in the city. He said a new WaterSmart web portal can tip off residents ”within hours” about unusual or possibly leaky water usage, which can reduce waste and save residents money.

He also mentioned how the Sterling Heights Police Department has become more transparent in its activities thanks to body cameras. And he mentioned that earlier this year, the City Council voted to install Flock Safety license plate-reading cameras to search for suspects.

“While this innovation could easily save lives and serve as a strong deterrent against crime, there are legitimate privacy and data storage policies that need to be addressed, and our council pressed the Police Department and Flock Safety to make sure that privacy rights are prioritized, and this tech is only used for its intended purpose,” Taylor explained.

In other tech news, Taylor announced that the city’s website has recently been redesigned and optimized, based on visitor analytics and webpage popularity, to be more user friendly. And he added that the website address has changed from sterling-heights.net to sterlingheights.gov.

And in terms of environmental sustainability, Taylor summarized steps the city took to put together an electric vehicle master plan, as well as a General Motors partnership that will install a network of EV charging stations by city buildings and parks.

“There is so much more happening in Sterling Heights that  I wish I had time to talk about. We had another amazing Sterlingfest, our second annual Juneteenth celebration, family-friendly events, farmers markets and great concerts all summer long, and we did it all together,” Taylor said as he concluded his address. “Now look — not even the most advanced AI software could write a speech of under an hour and touch on all the incredible things that have happened here in the past year.”

Stacy Ziarko, the president and CEO of the Connect Macomb chamber of commerce, said after Taylor’s address that she hasn’t heard any of her members directly share concerns about artificial intelligence. But she said many people are getting prepared for its mainstreaming.

“It’s something that’s on everyone’s radar,” Ziarko said.

According to an email from Jet’s Pizza media contact Gabriella Galloway, Jet’s Director of Marketing Kevin Tosolt said AI has been “extremely beneficial” for customers and workers, adding that the phone bot and text ordering have “improved order accuracy and customer satisfaction overall.”

“We are honored to have been recognized by the city for this because it is the future and we’re proud to be spearheading it,” Tosolt said. “Our main priority is our customers and our community and making them excited to be ordering Jet’s Pizza!”

Learn more about Sterling Heights by visiting sterlingheights.gov or by calling (586) 446-2489. Find out more about Connect Macomb by visiting connectmacomb.com.